In a bid to catch up with technology, address a host of registration-related challenges and offer students improved service, Zambia's first state university, the University of Zambia or UNZA, has introduced online student registration and payment.

Education Minister Dora Siliya said the university's online registration of students has thus far proved a success as it has reduced the long queues and tedious processes required of students. The university has also embraced the idea of online registration for all levels of examinations.

Vice-chancellor Stephen Simukanga said the new system will help to decongest the campus during the registration period as students will not be required to be at the institution.

He told local media that UNZA management and the Zambia National Commercial Bank, or Zanaco, have signed an agreement on the collection of fees using the Zanaco Internet service systems.

The Zanaco managing director, Mark Wiessing, said his bank is committed to delivering quality services.

UNZA Deputy Vice-chancellor Wilson Mwenya said the institution has for a long time grappled with severe difficulties during the student registration process. Not only did the registration process, when done manually, take considerably longer for the students to complete, but UNZA also commonly suffered significant financial losses due to theft.

Dr Mwenya said previous processes also involved long queues that necessitated involving the police to help control the tired and frustrated students.

"The online student registration has come at the right time to sort out all these difficulties that the university has been facing," Mwenya said.

The online registration system was piloted last year during the November student registration in the school of medicine and worked efficiently.

The UNZA centre for information and communication technology has set up a help desk at the main campus library to assist students who experience registration-related difficulties.

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